Happy chooks revive backyard ritual

Esther King keeps her eye on an egg-making machine. Photo: Simone Egger

Simone Egger

IS IT the chicken or the egg that's motivating the resurgence in keeping backyard chooks?

According to the Australian Egg Corporation, eggs produced by hens in suburban backyards represent around 10 per cent of total egg production in Australia. That's 393 million dozen eggs Australia-wide. But quantifying the other myriad motivators for keeping chooks is a little trickier.

In Melbourne, local business Book-A-Chook is flat-out ferrying a dozen rental coops and pairs of chooks around town to first-timers who want to try before they buy and short-termers such as childcare centres and kindergartens. It's part of a national revival in keeping chooks in suburban backyards.

Chickens roam free, mixing with other family pets in a suburban backyard. Photo: Simone Egger

''I think it has a lot to do with people wanting to know where their food comes from,'' says Book-A-Chook owner Fleur Baker. ''People want more control over the food cycle.''

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In Australia, there is no federal legislation governing the conditions that constitute ''free-range''. The egg industry is self-regulated, operating under a code of practice that varies between states. Last November, the ACCC handed down an interim decision against supporting a proposal by the egg corporation to trademark ''free-range'' as a stock density up to 20,000 birds per hectare. Phil Westwood, from Freeranger farm in Grantville, Victoria, says 1500 birds per hectare (just 7.5 per cent of the proposal's figure) is a more reasonable number and better represents the public's perception of free-ranging birds having the space to actually forage in grass.

Sarah McKenzie keeps two chooks in her Brunswick backyard. ''We want to ensure our eggs come from happy chooks,'' she says. ''And the children love the ritual of collecting eggs, and they love having the chooks sit on their laps.

''It's also interesting to watch the birds interact: to develop their hierarchy and to want to always be together.''

As for the supposed benefit of chooks eating kitchen scraps? ''We've found they really don't eat much,'' says Ms McKenzie. ''We actually make them bowls of warmed Weet-Bix in winter.''

Ms Baker from Book-A-Chook says the fussiness for food scraps is particular to city chooks. ''They're quite pampered. They all have names and individual personalities, many are allowed inside the house and, because there are just two or three, owners watch them very closely.

''I get some pretty interesting questions,'' she says. ''I often direct people to the Backyard Poultry website [an Australia and New Zealand-wide chook fanciers' site, with forums and articles] and its six pages of chook poo photos.''

And the cost? It's cheaper to buy eggs than to keep chooks for their eggs alone, say both Ms Baker and Mr Westwood, who advises people who want ''true'' free-range eggs to look for the Humane Choice logo or buy from stalls accredited by the Victorian Farmers Markets Association or talk to the farmer.

''With more people living in cities, there are more people wanting a bit of the country in their backyards,'' says Ms Baker. ''Many remember their parents or grandparents having chooks running around in the backyard.''

And, it seems, a growing number of the next generation of city dwellers will have similar fond memories.

8 comments so far

I had three chooks and a rooster in a suburban backyard. They gave me joy. They gave me good eggs. But I had to put them all on the chopping block because of noise complaints by anonymous neighbours. Really sad.

Commenter

MrOtto

Location

Sydney

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 10:47AM

The immediate increase in rodent population, attracted to the hen food, is a nasty by-product of this trend.

Commenter

Anna

Location

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 10:48AM

I love my chooks and would never be without them. They were rescued from a battery farm with the help of NSW Hen Rescue and are now free to wander around my yard, chase bugs, lay in the sun and see the sky for the first time in their lives. They happily live with my three cats and rottweiler, and watching all of them hang out together in the backyard and vegie patch is one of my favourite things to do. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Commenter

Luca

Location

Bulli

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 12:01PM

And at the end of the day you can eat the chicken to!! Or will that hurt its "feelings"?

Commenter

Frost

Location

Sydney

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 2:19PM

Mr Otto, your neighbours complained about the clucking of chickens? The noise from the rooster I understand but I assume the cowards who complained don't have screaming kids, barking dogs or play music loudly. No doubt they live in total silence....

Anna, I have over 40 chickens and have no issues with rodents. I only feed out enough that can be consumed in a few minutes and all my feed is stored in rodent proof bins and any spillage is cleaned immediately. Like anything if you live like a dirty minger then you will have rodents whether you keep chooks or not!

Commenter

Rachael

Location

Hobart

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 5:01PM

If you let your chooks run loose, please be keeping them in your own yard though. They are destructive little beasties.

Commenter

Deadwood

Location

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 7:47PM

Chooks are great so long as your backyard wasn't sprayed with organochlorines. Do check first! As for rats, well get a dog or a cat and give them some play time :-).

Commenter

Speedgal

Location

Perth

Date and time

December 31, 2012, 8:20PM

I had a new house that backed onto a neighbors unkempt yard, so I had a huge problem with weeds and a backyard teeming with bugs and spiders that would soon be moving inside with us. The kids raised the chicks until they were big enough to go out to the coop that we built, and a week after their release the weed and spider problem was eliminated. Our rocky and patchy lawn was cured too.